- Ukrainian refugees increase due to ceasefire violations
- Zelensky talks with Biden, US lawmakers, Israeli leader
- Visa and Mastercard blocked Russia
- Ukraine and Russia plan talks on Monday due to stalled evacuation
LVIV/Kyiv, Ukraine, March 6 – The number of refugees fleeing Ukraine was expected to reach 1.5 million on Sunday as Russia continued its offensive 11 days after invading Ukraine and Kyiv demanded further aid from the West, including additional sanctions and weapons.
Moscow and Kyiv exchanged accusations of violating the ceasefire on Saturday, which forced civilians to flee Mariupol and Volnovakha, two southern cities besieged by Russian forces. Ukrainians who managed to escape moved to neighboring Poland, Romania, Slovakia and other places.
Ukrainian negotiators have said a third round of ceasefire talks with Russia will take place on Monday, although Moscow has not been as categorical. More
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In a televised address on Saturday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on people in areas occupied by Russian troops to fight.
“We must go outside and drive this evil from our cities,” he said, vowing to rebuild his people.
Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated that he wants a neutral Ukraine that is “demilitarized” and “denazified” and likened Western sanctions “to a declaration of war,” adding, “Thank God it didn’t come to that.” More
Ukraine and Western countries have denounced Putin’s motives as a baseless excuse for invasion and have imposed wide-ranging sanctions aimed at isolating Moscow and hurting its economy.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, after meeting with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken at the Ukrainian-Polish border, said that he expects new sanctions and weapons for Ukraine in the coming days.
The United States has said it will provide Ukraine with more weapons and has repeatedly warned it could tighten sanctions, and President Joe Biden is seeking $10 billion in emergency funding to respond to the crisis.
Washington is working with Poland as Warsaw considers providing Ukraine with fighter jets, a White House official said, adding that the United States could resupply fighter jets for Poland.
Zelenskiy asked for help securing European allied aircraft during a video call with US lawmakers. He also called again for more deadly assistance, a ban on Russian oil, a no-fly zone, and an end to Visa Inc (VN) and MasterCard Inc privileges in Russia, US media reported.
Visa and Mastercard later said they would suspend credit card transactions in Russia, the latest in a string of dramatic corporate denials and government sanctions over the invasion. More
Biden and Zelensky also talked, discussing security, financial support for Ukraine and continued sanctions against Russia, the Ukrainian leader wrote on Twitter.
NATO, which Ukraine wants to join, is resisting Zelenskiy’s calls for a no-fly zone over his country, saying it would escalate the conflict outside of Ukraine.
Trying to mediate, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with Putin in the Kremlin on Saturday and then spoke with Zelensky. More
“We continue the dialogue,” Zelensky wrote after the call.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has released a six-point plan to respond to the invasion ahead of meetings this week with Canadian, Dutch and Central European leaders in London. More
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan is expected to speak with Putin on Sunday. Turkey, a member of NATO, has a maritime border with Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea. More
An elderly woman is helped to cross a collapsed bridge as she tries to leave the city of Irpen, Kyiv region, Ukraine, on March 5, 2022. Jedrzej Nowicki/Agencja Wyborcza.pl via REUTERS
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Russia has again warned the EU and NATO to stop “pumping the latest weapons systems” into Kyiv, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told RIA Novosti.
BRUTAL FIGHTS
The Russian Defense Ministry said its troops are conducting a large-scale offensive on Ukrainian territory and have captured several towns and villages, Russian news agency Interfax reported.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces said on Sunday they were conducting a number of defensive operations, including in the eastern part of the Donetsk region, in Slobozhansky and the city of Chernihiv.
According to Ukrainian media, a series of explosions rocked Kharkiv, the second largest city, during the night.
The Ukrainian military said they have shot down 88 Russian planes and helicopters to date and captured several pilots. Reuters was unable to confirm this claim.
The International Monetary Fund warned that the conflict would have a “major impact” on the global economy, driving up energy and grain prices. He said that as early as this week he would consider Kyiv’s request for $1.4 billion in emergency funding. More
“HELP US IF YOU CAN”
In Mariupol, surrounded by Russian troops and shelled for several days, the situation was grim.
“We can’t collect all the bodies in the street,” Vice Mayor Sergei Orlov told CNN, saying it was impossible to count the number of civilian deaths there.
Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said it was urgently delivering additional emergency supplies to Ukraine as many hospitals faced shortages.
Heavy shelling was heard in the background, the inhabitants of Volnovakha tried to flee.
“Help if you can, we all want to live, we have children, husbands, we are moms and dads, we are people too,” said local resident Larisa. “Where should I go? What I have on and a bag of things is all I have. That is all I have”.
With the onset of night, new refugees moved to Moldova.
“I’m scared,” said the mother, who had fled Odessa, and added that she would continue to go to Poland.
The World Health Organization said that as of Thursday, when the number of refugees stood at 1.2 million and 160,000 were internally displaced, 249 civilians had been killed and 553 injured.
“The human toll is likely much higher as access and security issues make it difficult to verify the actual number of deaths and injuries,” the statement said.
The United Nations Refugee Agency has estimated that the number of refugees could rise to 4 million by July.
Demonstrations were scheduled for Sunday in Washington and elsewhere after jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny called for worldwide protests on March 6 against the war. On Saturday, protests took place in Chile, Paris and Israel.
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Reportings by Pavel Polityuk, Natalia Zinets, Oleksandr Vazovich in Ukraine, Simon Lewis on the Polish-Ukrainian border; Olzhas Auezov in Almaty, Matthias Williams in Medica, Guy Faulconbridge and William Schomberg in London, John Irish in Paris, François Murphy in Vienna, David Younggren in Ottawa, Jarrett Renshaw, Idris Ali and Daphne Psaledakis in Washington and other Reuters offices; Writing by Susan Heavey and Kim Coghill; Editing by William Mullard
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